Joanna Gaines' New Kids Book Gets Back to Nature, Thanks to Son Crew: 'Stop and Look and Be Amazed' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Joanna Gaines and son Crew.Photo:Joanna Gaines/Instagram; Harper Collins

Joanna Gaines/Instagram; Harper Collins

Joanna Gainesis opening up about the inspiration behind her brand-new children’s book — and what she hopes her audiences will learn and take with them after reading it.

“What I love about the book is realizing how much wisdom there is to be gleaned from little children,” she tells PEOPLE for a story in a recent print issue.

“I always have to ground myself, just in nature,” she reveals of her writing process. “I feel like I get the most inspired, whether it’s to write or if I’m doing a design project or if it’s just dreaming about what’s the future for Magnolia. I realize I get the most when I’m outside in the garden. And so I have this little cottage in the garden and that’s where I’ll write my notes.”

Gaines hopes her book can answer a series of questions, for kids and their grown-ups alike.

“What are the kids teaching us right now in this season of life for me? What is Crew teaching me? And then how can I articulate that and bring that to life in a book?” the author asks.

“There are so many things we think we’re teaching our kids but really if we stop to listen, they’re actually teaching us so much.” she continues. “And I think that’s this idea with these children’s books. It’s like, what are the kids teaching me right now in this season of life for me? What is Crew teaching me? And then how can I articulate that and bring that to life in a book?”

According to theNew York Timesbestselling author, her writing process (which often begins outside in her garden) began in 2023, when she was with her youngest son for a 15-minute interview on their back porch.

“I just asked him, ‘What do you see?’ And that was really what started this concept of the illustrations and the story that’s happening in the book,” she recalls.

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Gaines in 2019.Larry Busacca/Getty

Larry Busacca/Getty

“I feel like as adults, our problems get bigger,“the mom-of-five continues. “The weight of our work, the weight of our responsibility. And it’s like, every now and then I’ll feel this sense to go out in the garden and just go stare at a bloom. Just go look at one flower. Anytime I’m just stuck in my head or I feel overwhelmed, I’ll go look at one thing and just look at all the wonder that’s in just that one tiny bloom.”

Crew — who Gaines shares with husband Chip, 50 — also reminds those around him to be present, as Gaines reveals that he’s often the one asking her to put her phone away and spend some time with him.

“Who knows how many books come after this?” she adds, “just because he’s teaching me every day.”

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Gaines has a few hopes for what the readers ofThe World Needs the Wonder You See(which also has signed editions available at Barnes & Noble) might take away from her book.

“[What] I hope is that, gosh, we have that opportunity every single second of the day to be able to stop and look and be amazed,” she tells PEOPLE. “And I feel like the thing that’s grounded me the most of my life, is just that heart of gratitude for what’s around. Life can be all the things, but gratitude is truly what grounds us.”

“I feel like this book challenges me to always look for wonder,” Gaines finishes. Once you taste wonder and you see it, I think then that gratitude flows out of thankfulness for all that is out there for us.”

source: people.com